Collingwood veteran Ben Reid looms as the inclusion for hamstrung superstar Jordan De Goey in the Magpies' preliminary final clash with Greater Western Sydney on Saturday at the MCG.
Reid, who hasn't played at AFL level since round 15, spent time playing deep forward during the match simulation portion of Thursday's training session at the Holden Centre.
The Pies will have at least one other change, after hard nut Levi Greenwood ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the qualifying final victory over Geelong.
Coach Nathan Buckley told reporters about how the side would potentially look.
"We've got a few blokes that have put their hand up and we've had a couple of weeks to consider that, because we knew that those two were going to be out from a long way out. We've had a look and we think we'll go in with a pretty similarly balanced team to be able to play the way we want to play," Buckley said.
When asked whether that made Reid the obvious replacement for De Goey, Buckley answered: "Potentially, yes."
De Goey trained with the main group until the rest of the squad did match simulation, when he did run-throughs on the boundary line in front of the black and white faithful.
He won't face the Giants but could be back for the Grand Final, should Collingwood make it.
"There's a few things to play out, but he's not looking hobbled and he's moving pretty well," Buckley said.
"Whether that's the work that he's done over in Germany – I dare say that it would be and we sent him over there for a reason, but also it might indicate that the injury potentially wasn't as significant as we may have thought.
"He's moving well. He did run around for about 40 minutes after feeling it in the qualifying final, so we're not getting carried away with what we're seeing.
"He won't be right for Saturday."
Buckley nominated Travis Varcoe, James Aish, Matt Scharenberg, Jack Madgen and Josh Daicos as potential ins for GWS.
The group has had a long time to think about what awaits them, having played just once in the past three weeks following the bye after the home and away season, and then earning another week off for beating Geelong.
"The analogy I've used is it's a little bit like a staying race, the Melbourne Cup. We think we're a pretty good stayer, so we've got out of the blocks and we think we've been able to put ourselves to sleep in many ways," Buckley said.
'We're coming up to the 800, we're just going to tickle them up a little bit and see if we can get them going and when the whips are cracking, we need to be around the mark."
GWS has had an aggressive approach during its impressive finals run, thumping the red-hot Western Bulldogs before prevailing in a thrilling road win over Brisbane.
That doesn't hold any fears for Buckley though.
"Our hardness inside stacks up for itself," Buckley said.
"The way that the Giants have gone about it, I think you've got to be impressed with the steel that they have brought into their game. They were clearly challenged around that four or five weeks ago.
"When you get into this end of the season, you don't face teams that haven't got a real clear focus on who they are and how they're going to go about it. There's a reason you get to the last four.
"We can't do a lot about that. We'll be bringing our best to the table. We're really hard at the ball. We're really hard at the man with the ball.
"The niggle stuff is part of the game. You can buy into it if you want, or you can just go and play footy really hard, and that's the way we prefer to go about it."
